This invention relates to shoulder guards for garment hangers and, more particularly, to such a shoulder guard having several advantages over the prior art, and to a blank for use in making the inventive shoulder guard.
Prior art garment shoulder guards generally do not support a large area of the shoulders of garments hung thereon and in consequence such garments tend to wrinkle fairly rapidly when hung on the prior art guards; and some even do not materially improve in this regard to the situation in which the garments are hung on wire hangers.
The assembly of prior art guards such as the "FIT-RITE DELUXE"; "FORM-IT"; "SHAPE-UP" and "CONTOUR", must typically be completed by personnel in dry cleaning establishments, prior to assembly thereof with hangers. This is because the guards, when assembled, are three-dimensioned, and are thus too bulky to be stored in large quantities required in dry cleaning establishments. The assembly of prior art guards typically requires complex folding and fastening steps (staples, tabs, etc.) and is thus a time-consuming and expensive operation at the retail level.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the invention to provide an improved garment hanger shoulder guard which will support a larger area of the shoulders of a garment hung thereon to enhance the care of the garment.
It is another important object to provide an improved garment hanger shoulder guard, which can be easily assembled at the retail level, or completely assembled in the factory, requiring no assembly operation at the retail level.
It is a further important object of the present invention to provide a completely assembled garment hanger shoulder guard which is foldable prior to use into a two-dimensional flat condition for storage in a stacked supply, ready for instantaneous use.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a guard which is economical to manufacture, and does not cost appreciably more than prior art guards.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a blank for use in manufacturing a guard which achieves the foregoing objects and advantages.